Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Wong GW
PROVIDER: S-EPMC4145527 | biostudies-literature | 2014 Aug
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Wong G William GW Zhuo Lisheng L Kimata Koji K Lam Bing K BK Satoh Nori N Stevens Richard L RL
Biochemical and biophysical research communications 20140802 2
The sentinel roles of mammalian mast cells (MCs) in varied infections raised the question of their evolutionary origin. We discovered that the test cells in the sea squirt Ciona intestinalis morphologically and histochemically resembled cutaneous human MCs. Like the latter, C. intestinalis test cells stored histamine and varied heparin·serine protease complexes in their granules. Moreover, they exocytosed these preformed mediators when exposed to compound 48/80. In support of the histamine data, ...[more]